Once sacrosanct, the military has increasingly become a political punching bag in Washington, D.C., but the country’s largest service has lately started taking some swings of its own.

“We are a ready Army, not a ‘woke’ Army,” Army Secretary Christine Wormuth told reporters Tuesday. “What I’m trying to talk about now is how that drip, drip, drip of criticism about a woke military is having some counterproductive effects on recruiting.”

The services have come under near constant attacks on Capitol Hill over the past year, with Republican lawmakers claiming the military is getting soft due to its embrace of racial …